Almeria council questioned over unequal pay

ADRA Council has been criticised following allegations of unequal pay.

Council cleaners in Adra were reportedly found to have been paid less than council labourers, with whom they shared the same level of employment.

As a result, the local government will have to give each of the 13 cleaners involved €6,251. The case was brought before a judge at a Social Court hearing in Almeria after the cleaners sued the local government, on the grounds of discriminatory treatment against women.

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The judge reportedly ruled that: ‘Employees in this group must be paid the same amount of €225.14 per month, but from the payroll it is clear that the cleaners were only paid €158.87 per month.’

Adra Council is alleged to have been unable to provide the necessary documentation relating to the payroll and what they did provide was deemed as insufficient evidence to account for the inaccuracies in payment.

At the summary of the hearing, the judge said: “This demonstrates that the tactics of the council were defensive rather than proactive and that they should have contributed what was required from them.

“For this conduct, the defendant (Adra Council) must pay the plaintiff (the 13 cleaners) the unjustified difference in pay of €68.27 per month.” The judge went on to note that the cleaners were all women and that the labourers were all men.

He said: “Given these facts, there has been discriminatory treatment for women within the cleaner category, a position only occupied by the female gender, which implies indirect discrimination (not direct due to the differing categories of discrimination) based on sex.”

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